1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a file recording apparatus, a file reproducing apparatus, a file recording method, a file recording method program, a recording medium that records the file recording method program, a file reproducing method, a file reproducing method program, and a recording medium that records the file reproducing method program. More particularly, the invention relates illustratively to the editing of pictures taken by use of a QT format file. The present invention proposes creating an effect track in accordance with the video track based on video data management information, the effect track being set to be either null effect having no effect advantage or active effect having an effect advantage. The invention further makes the file by setting a source track (target for the effect track) to the video track. These features are designed to reduce the burdens on the resources for editing files typically in the QT format and for reproducing such edited files.
2. Background Art
The quick time file format, called the QT format hereunder, is well known as a multimedia-compatible file format. With the QT format in use, real data such as moving pictures, still pictures and sound are grouped into blocks. Apart from such real data blocks, management information for managing the real data is collected and turned into blocks. These blocks will be called atoms in the description that follows. The atoms that bring together real data will be called movie data atoms and those which consolidate management information will be referred to as movie atoms.
The movie atoms have their management information arranged into boxes by attribute in a hierarchical structure, whereby diverse kinds of atoms are made. With the movies atoms, their hierarchically structured atoms are formed into various tracks using management information blocks according to the real data types in use. More specifically, if the movies atoms have media data composed of video data and sound data, these two kinds of data are formed into a video track and an audio track respectively. The two tracks are used to manage the corresponding real data in the movie data atoms. If the video data and audio data are multiplexed, as in the case of the video track being assigned not only video data of moving pictures but also still picture data (e.g., MPEG2-PS (program stream) data), the track furnished with management information is regarded not as a video track but as a base media track. Even with such a different track type, the track in question is subject to editing of real data if it is assigned video data. With this aspect taken into consideration, the video track in the ensuing description is assumed to cover as needed the base media track which includes video data and which is used to manage real data. Where reference is made specifically to a video track, that track is assumed to be one which differs from the sound track and which is assigned video data management information.
Under such real data management, not only movie data atoms held in a single file but also those held in other files are managed. Diverse media are thus provided in the so-called internal as well as external reference form.
Movie data atoms have their real data divided into samples constituting minimum manageable units. Where the QT format is in effect, management information is set to each of those minimum manageable units of the movie atoms which represent the real data. Meanwhile, when files are to be made in the QT format, each sample is generally constituted by one frame or one GOP (group of pictures) corresponding to a minimum increment of display, as disclosed illustratively in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-94933, for the purpose of improving convenience in processing.
In an editing process where effects are applied to video data in the QT format, movie data atoms are assigned video data made from the real data that has been actually processed for effects. At the same time, a video track corresponding to the video data is used to create movie atoms which in turn are formed into a file.
The QT format is also provided for use in an editing process where effects are applied to video data using moving data atoms derived from the original video data in place of the movie data atoms resulting from the edited video data having actually undergone effect processing. In such video data editing, the effect track furnished with editing-related management information is formed into movie atoms, whereby the input source of the effect track is assigned the movie data atoms derived from the original video data.
As shown in FIGS. 1A through 1C, suppose that filtering effects such as blur are applied to a track segment T of a single video data stream in a so-called one-source effect process. In this example, a source track ST (FIG. 1B) identifying the real data in the track segment T is made on the basis of management information (in a sample table, to be discussed later) set for a video track VT (i.e., original track; FIG. 1A) corresponding to the real data based on the original video data. Also made is an effect track ET (FIG. 1C) that defines a specific process of effects on the source track ST.
In the above example, the real data corresponding to the video track VT constituting the original track is reproduced successively from a QT file. In parallel with data reproduction from the original track, real data is reproduced consecutively from the source track ST over the track segment T and is processed according to the effect track ET. The video data processed in keeping with the effect track ET is output in a manner taking precedence over the video data from the video track. In the one-source effect process, as outlined above, three tracks are handled during filtering-based editing work. In FIGS. 1A through 1C, the notation “scrA” is a proper name that identifies the source.
FIGS. 2A through 2E depict a typical two-source effect process in which transition-based effects such as cross fade are applied illustratively to two video data streams being edited. Video tracks VT1 and VT2 are established as the original tracks (FIGS. 2A and 2B) corresponding the real data constituting the two video data streams. Source tracks ST1 and ST2 subject to an effect process over a track segment T are made (FIGS. 2C and 2D) in accordance with management information about the two video tracks VT1 and VT2. There is also made an effect track ET (FIG. 2E) for defining specific effects to be performed on the source tracks ST1 and ST2.
In the example above, the real data corresponding to the video tracks VT1 and VT2 constituting the original tracks is reproduced successively from a QT file. In parallel with data reproduction from the original tracks, real data is reproduced consecutively from the source tracks ST1 and ST2 over the track segment T and is processed according to the effect track ET. The video data processed in keeping with the effect track ET is output in a manner taking precedence over the video data from the video tracks VT1 and VT2. In the two-source effect process, as described above, five tracks are handled during filtering-based editing work.
With the QT format in use, management information and real data are separately processed with regard to the effect track ET during editing work. In a file that is output following the editing, the types of editing-related effects such as chroma key are described chronologically. In corresponding movie data atoms, the parameters associated with each of the effects involved are described. As a result, in the QT file, the effect track is managed in units of samples every time a different effect type is used or a different parameter value is applied.
If it is possible to reduce the burdens on the hardware and software resources engaged in editing such files and in reproducing the edited files, the arrangements for processing such types of files will be implemented in a more simplified structure than before.